Reverb only bus

[TVR PRODUCTIONS]

I have skated by for over 20 years by adding reverb to a track and that is what I got. I know there is a way to send the original signal out to a reverb so that only the reverb is on the track and I would be able to maintain the original signal on its original track and simply add the reverb in as I like, and maybe panned to only one side. I cannot figure this out. I added a stereo bus but when I send my track's output to that bus, I get the combined wet and dry signal. That is no better than using my Fostex X15 in 1984 playing my guitar though a reverb and recording it that way. What is the best way to do this? Thanks.

[arlen2133]

HI TVR, 

There are a couple of ways to do this actually.

1st way is, like you said to add a stereo bus and "send" some of your signal over to the bus.  

When you solo, solo the bus to hear the effect and adjust as necessary..

2nd way is to use an Aux track.  This would work in the same way the bus track would, only you can use put it right next to the original track.  

You would "send" your signal to the Aux track (same as the bus)..

Remember though, you can send 2 different ways...

Pre - which means you send the signal before any channel processing (volume included)  or 

Post - all processing (including track volume) will be sent.

 

Hope this helps some.

[Terry Kelley]

The way I do it is create a new stereo bus, change the name to Reverb, insert the reverb of my choice as an effect on this bus, set the output to the master/main bus, turn off the dry signal in the reverb plug in and then add sends on any track I want to have reverb.

There are times when I want some reverb to be different on a couple of tracks than the others. In that case, I just repeat the above but with the different reverb. I can send to one, the other or both depending on how crazy I want to get.

I will occasionally put reverb or echo only on a specific track.

I also do the same for echo, some global chorusing, etc.

 

Edited September 21, 2019 by Terry Kelley

[chuckebaby]

12 hours ago, TVR PRODUCTIONS said:

I added a stereo bus but when I send my track's output to that bus, I get the combined wet and dry signal.

You need to set the Reverb to 100% wet and control the wet/dry amount by throwing a send on each track you want to feed the reverb bus.

If you set the send to full, you will hear more than enough reverb. Its the same as it was using an analog desk was back in the hey day. IE- Putting your rack effects on a bus and sending to it.

12 hours ago, TVR PRODUCTIONS said:

That is no better than using my Fostex X15 in 1984

There was no FX returns on those X15's. I know I had one and still do . I also have the Tascam studio 8

 

[msmcleod]

17 hours ago, TVR PRODUCTIONS said:

...That is no better than using my Fostex X15 in 1984 playing my guitar though a reverb and recording it that way. 

You also don't have to resort to using batteries to avoid including the mains hum in your recording  

[chuckebaby]

1 hour ago, msmcleod said:

You also don't have to resort to using batteries to avoid including the mains hum in your recording  

Hey I have that battery pack for the X15. I think it is 6 D battery's. They didn't last long but it was nice listening to multi track recordings (through headphones) in the car back in the 80's.

[razor7music]

Personally, I like the dry signal from the track, with the wet signal from the send/bus (with reverb plug set at 100% wet). I can dial it in or out to taste, but with reverb, I have to watch that I don't lose the definition by making it sound too far back in the mix. This is why I like the mix of signals. Just a matter of preference.

Edited September 23, 2019 by razor7music

[razor7music]

On 9/21/2019 at 6:11 AM, Chuck E Baby said:

You need to set the Reverb to 100% wet and control the wet/dry amount by throwing a send on each track you want to feed the reverb bus.

If you set the send to full, you will hear more than enough reverb. Its the same as it was using an analog desk was back in the hey day. IE- Putting your rack effects on a bus and sending to it.

There was no FX returns on those X15's. I know I had one and still do . I also have the Tascam studio 8

 

The only thing missing from that picture to make it really authentic looking, are a bunch of cigarette burns! ?

[TVR PRODUCTIONS]

Thanks everyone. I created a bus and names it reverb. I loaded a reverb on it. I then created a send to that bus and it worked. Thanks again.

 

BTW, my Foster X15 was a cassette recorder, not a reel to reel.

[CDK]

Hey guys, jumping on the end of this one - how do I create an aux track or reverb bus through which I can route all my audio tracks?

[TVR PRODUCTIONS]

I just realized that I may be doing this wrong. I created a new stereo buss that I named Reverb.  However, if I choose the Reverb bus as the output for the track I want to add reverb too,  then the individual track fader has no effect. Am I able to get the original dry track and then add the every only buss to the mix? I feel like I am missing something simple.

[Lord Tim]

You need 2 busses to do this right.

First, make 2 busses: Master and Reverb.

Master should have the output go straight to your soundcard hardware outputs.

Reverb will have the reverb plugin on it, set to 100% wet in the plugin, and the output of that should go to Master.

Then for each of your tracks, make sure the output is set to go to Master, and you make a send on each of them that goes to Reverb, which you can adjust to taste or automate if you like.

[CDK]

13 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

You need 2 busses to do this right.

First, make 2 busses: Master and Reverb.

Master should have the output go straight to your soundcard hardware outputs.

Reverb will have the reverb plugin on it, set to 100% wet in the plugin, and the output of that should go to Master.

Then for each of your tracks, make sure the output is set to go to Master, and you make a send on each of them that goes to Reverb, which you can adjust to taste or automate if you like.

Thanks Lord Tim, works perfectly. Not sure if you were replying to me but it's what I was after!

I'm also looking for some mixing advice/tutorials (specifically Cakewalk if possible) on normalizing/compression if you have any suggestions?

Just not sure what kind of levels I should be aiming for to get my track similar in level to a radio/commercial track without clipping.

E.g. do you suggest normalizing tracks then adjusting gain (or the fader)?

 

[Lord Tim]

That's a big question with a lot of answers. I would, however, recommend against normalising the audio unless you have a good reason for it, since that's a destructive process.

You can use the track edit filter and set it to Clip Gain and turn stuff up on a clip by clip basis (including setting points to change the envelope in the clip too if you like) if you'd like to even things out like that, but with the Pro Channel you have a fantastic compressor built into every track and some very good presets to get you started.

Lots of good tutorials in general out there on YouTube that's not specific to CbB but the info applies to any DAW. I especially recommend Warren Huart's Produce Like a Pro channel - he has a few great introductory episodes on compression and gain staging on there and he's a great teacher. I'm sure other people have other really good suggestions here too

[CDK]

3 hours ago, Lord Tim said:

That's a big question with a lot of answers. I would, however, recommend against normalising the audio unless you have a good reason for it, since that's a destructive process.

You can use the track edit filter and set it to Clip Gain and turn stuff up on a clip by clip basis (including setting points to change the envelope in the clip too if you like) if you'd like to even things out like that, but with the Pro Channel you have a fantastic compressor built into every track and some very good presets to get you started.

Lots of good tutorials in general out there on YouTube that's not specific to CbB but the info applies to any DAW. I especially recommend Warren Huart's Produce Like a Pro channel - he has a few great introductory episodes on compression and gain staging on there and he's a great teacher. I'm sure other people have other really good suggestions here too

Thanks for your message, great advice.

In my current project after adding eq & reverb I'm still getting the occasional master volume spike of maybe 1.1db. What's the best thing do to here, assuming anything above 0db will clip? Can I simply turn the master down a little? Or am I really sounding like a rookie now?

 

[Lord Tim]

Turn the tracks down.  

I mean, yeah, turning the master down would do the job too, of course, and nothing is going to clip inside CbB's engine at all, but how you set up your gain affects how each plugin will react to things as well. If you hit a certain plugin too hard or soft, THAT may clip or might not have enough guts to hit the right threshold for it to make a difference, etc.

If you're hitting your master too hot, start with your tracks. A pro-tip: CTRL+A will select all tracks, then while holding down the CTRL key, drag one of the volume sliders on any track - every track's volume will move with it. A nice quick and easy way to drop everything.